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Facedown98

Posted 01 October 2006 - 08:06 AM

Facedown98

Trusted Tech

Technician

2,989 posts

Ok, simply put, you need a Modem. I trust you have DSL or some high-speed connection? Also, you will need a router, which will connect everything together. Now this is important... Will the router be wireless or not? Only chosse wireless if the computers are too far away to run an ethernet cable. After that you just setup the host computer, etc. Please give us some more information, and we will try to match you up as best we can.

Posted 01 October 2006 - 08:27 PM

thenotch

Posted 02 October 2006 - 07:15 AM

How you network these computers depends on what you will be doing with them.

A few scenarios would be:

Sharing internet connection

Sharing files

Creating a LAN for gaming

That being said, a router is your best choice all around but in the case of file sharing with 4 computers not entirely necessay and a standard 10/100 hub would suffice (and be considerably cheaper).

This set-up could also be accomplished as far as internet sharing is concerned. You set-up internet connection sharing (ICS) on on system and then connect that system to the hub, setup the other systems to use the ICS system as their internet serive and you have internet on all the systems.

A router is a more effective means of connecting your systems but again, it depends on your budget and what you are trying to accomplish.

thenotch

Posted 03 October 2006 - 03:38 PM

So you will need a router and not a hub. Especially if you're new to networking.

I would disagree, if I am understanding him properly.

Sharing files between 4 systems and only having the internet on one would not require a router and honestly wouldn't be easier because you would have to configure the router.

If he wants the other systems to have internet access, then yes, the router is the way to go.

But from what I am gathering it's only to share files between computers in which case a 10/100 hub would more than suffice and would be CONSIDERABLY cheaper. A switch would be preferred over the hub, but a router is not necessary.

All you would have to do in a hub/switch type enviroment is make sure all the systems connect to the hub/switch, set-up all systems in a workgroup enviroment, statically assign all systems the systems a non-routable IP address as such:

Give them all a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and enable appropriate file sharing as necessary (of course you need to ensure you have a firewall enabled on them all regardless of whether or not they are actively connected to the internet because the network itself has a system that IS connected to the internet) and your pc's should all talk to each other.

Again, a router will add extra functionality, but again at a higher cost. If what you stated is your basic requirements a hub or switch will do the job for you quite well. But again, if you are going to connect more than one of these systems to the internet a router would probably be your better choice.

Facedown98

Posted 03 October 2006 - 05:43 PM

Facedown98

Trusted Tech

Technician

2,989 posts

Ah, I see where you're coming from... A good observation I would just like to confirm with the user that these computers have no intention of going on the internet in the near future. Sure, the hub would make it work as well, but as we have agreed, the router would be a better choice if they were to one day access the net together.